NEW GENERAL HOSPITAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIII, Issue 17, 22 January 1919, Page 5

NEW GENERAL HOSPITAL

PROPOSAL TO TRANSFER MENTAL HOSPITAL GROUNDS.

PUBLIC MEETING AT COUNCIL CHAMBER.

DEPUTATION TO INTERVIEW MINISTER.

A public meeting was held in the Council Chamber last evening to consider th© proposal that has been brought prominently forward lately that the Mental Hospital grounds be transferred to the Hospital Board as a site for the genera! Hospital. The Mayor (Mr W. W. Snodgrass) presided over a very fair attendance. The Mayor, after remarking that the attendance was not so large as expected, said the Hospital Board had decided ®£ m ® time ago to ask that a portion of the Mental Hospital site be granted for a new General Hospital, but the request at that time was refused. After further consideration and inquiry the Board had come back to the idea that the Mental Hospital! site was the best. The Board had information and experience that the general public did not have,, and he hoped the ratepayers of the district would appreciate that. That meeting, he suggested, might initiate an agitation for the transfer of the site. The Mayor remarked that Nelson was always very slow in urging its claims on the Government—it would get more if it agitated more. He believed the proposal would have the sympathetic, consideration of the Minister.

Mr T, Neale, Chairman of the Nelson Hospital Board, said the question of a hospital site was all important, as if a mistake was mad© in regard' to the site it was a mistake for all time, as the day of wooden buildings had gone. A • tour of the North Island had impressed him with the fact that hospital boards that had built, as they, thought, for long periods, found that they were continually having to make extensions. The Nelson hospital could be built on the present site, but in view of the increase of population Jib was sure would take place, the site would not ultimately prove large enough. The past year with its epidemics of scarlet fever, diphtheria and influenza. had proved that two hospital would have to be provided—one for infectious cases. The Board had considered many proposals, but had come to the decision that to build on the present site would be a most regrettable thing. The present Mental Hospital grounds embodied almost everything needed for an up-to-date "General Hospital and there was room there also fqr extensions. The Mental Hospital grounds would be the finest thing for the Board if they could be secured, and this view ha was sure w r as endorsed by the public generally. ■ Dr. Gibbs, President of the Nelson Branch of the British Medical Association. said the branch was in favour of Hie Mental Hospital site, that site being considered the beet. The time waa opportune to endeavour to secure that qito. as the present Mental Hospital buildings were very old and should be destroyed, except the concrete ’bunding at the • back of the main buildings. With few alterations, the present General Hospital could be made available as an Old People’s Home. In all other pares of the Dominion the mental hospitals were generally several miles out Of the cities. It was time,' too, they agitated that the Nelson Mental Hospital be removed from the city, in the interests both of the patients and of the city. He would move that a deputation consisting oi representatives of the Hospital Board, City Council, County Council, British Medical Association, Farmers’ Union,, and such other bodies as the Hospital Beard may consider of assistance, together with the members of Parliament fot the district, wait on the Minister and urge upon him the necessity of transferring the Mental Hospital site to the Hospital Board as a site for the new Hospital. Mr H, S. Duncan, Chairman of the Nelson HarbouiJ Board, seconded l the motion and said that while he would have liked a site with a better aspect, evidently there was .no such site available. The Mental Hospital sit© was the only one that gave a sufficient area. He thought the deputation should be backed up by a petition bearing the signatures of citizens of N®.sou. /and district. Dr. Gibbs said he would/ be very glad to add to his motion that -a _ petition be circulated, if there was lime. But he would point out that already additions were to be made at the Mental Hospital, the excavations for a reception home having already been commenced. Mr F. G. Gibbs, in supporting the motion, said the aspect of the Nelson Mental Hospital was an excellent one. There was no other site in the town or close at hand that was so suitable lor a general hospital as the Mental Hospital site. Having the General Hospital' on the Mental Hospital site and removing the Mental Hospital to the country, he believed would be to the benefit of both institution®. It should be put to the Minister that one or other ; imitation would have to be moved, and that it was desirable that the Mental Hospital should be in the country. Mr C. R. Fell, President of the Nelson Chamber of Commerce and a_ member of the Hospital Board, said it was a question of the present Hospital site, the Mental Hospital site, or . going out of town. He was against going out ot town. The Government owned the Mental Hospital, and was shareholder in the General HospitalBoth institutions practically belonged to the country, and if this broad viewr Was accepted by the.-Government the .result should be satisfactory. Mr T .A. H. Field, M.P. for Nelson, said after every rite had been considered the conclusion had been arrived at that the Mental' Hospital site. was the best. As*had already been ported out the Minister had! treated Nelson well in regard to the new Hospital, and they did not want to appear to b©unreasonable. But the matter had be. gone into more fnlly and he was sa - fied that the best thing to do waa to endeavour to secure the Mental Hospital rite. In the not distant future there would be a change in (f nn * ctl ° n with mental hospitals, especially m gard to classification of the and this aspect of the question should be brought before the who. he was sure, would give the proposed deputation a good bearing. „ Mr F. O. Pettit said the Mental Hos pital authorities had) 82 acres m 00 t few-. Valley, and it SO or 60^acres rot good agricultural land 1 could be secur ed. say between. Stoke and Richmond, It would be of greater financial val«| than the present Mental Hospital grounds. It would be a wise financial proposition for the Government to ®s pose of the present Mental Hospital site and secure an area of good agricultural ■ The motion, with the addition that a petition be circulated, was put and carried unanimously. _ . •On the motion of Mr F. G. Gibbs it was resolved that the Mayor, Messrs •Neale, . Fell and Field, M.P., be a conn ndttee to give effect to* the resolution in regard to the deputation.